Arkhan the Black

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The Legend

Arkhan is the first and most loyal follower of Nagash, who somehow went from a minor-family's good for nothing wastrel (his title is actually a mocking reference to the fact that, as a mortal, he ate so much sweet stuff his teeth turned black) into a super-badass necromancer-warrior. Arkhan is officially credited with leading the suicidal counterattack that allowed Nagash to escape the Army of the Seven Kings, singlehandedly holding them off with spellcasting and swordplay for an hour before some random schmo managed to hit him in the heart with a spear. Dying, he croaked out a curse that anyone who touched his bones would die horribly, and burst into black flames that left behind only a blackened skeleton.

The Khemrians were so spooked that they wouldn't dare touch his bones, so they just covered them under a great heap of rubble. Surprisingly, Nagash didn't forget what Arkhan did for him and when he came back, he resurrected Arkhan as the Liche King, the first of his nine Dark Lords and a blatant rip off of The Lord of the Ring. Ever since then, even as Nagash has gone elsewhere, Arkhan has tried to take over Khemri on his own, waiting for his boss to finally come back to him.

Even Settra the Imperishable can't seem to get rid of this guy. Though they have fought over a dozen times, the Liche King's sorcery is far greater than anything Settra or the Liche Priests can muster, allowing him to hold out despite an inferior army. As a result, Settra usually settles for just beating Arkhan to a stalemate, making him swear oaths of fealty that they both know Arkhan will wipe his bony ass with when he gets cocky enough later, and leaving to get other shit done.

With the coming of The End Times, Settra has fallen, freeing Arkhan to go to war at the behest of his master once more. Now the Mortarch of Sacrament, riding the Dread Abyssal Razarak, The Doom of Traitors, Arkhan still serves... but, perhaps, is starting to have doubts...

On the Tabletop

As a Tomb King

Arkhan's a spellcaster, first and foremost. Though he can only use spells from the Lore of Death, his copy of the Liber Mortis makes him a level 5 caster (though he loses a level, and thus a random spell, if it ever gets destroyed), and his Staff of Nagash lets him convert three dispel dice from one turn into three fresh power dice in the next turn. Like a Tomb King, he has the Nehekharan Undead, Flammable and "The Curse" special rules.

Fluffwise, Arkhan's supposed to be good in melee as well as a caster, and his Tomb Blade of Arkhan, which restores wounds to a unit he's with for each unsaved wound he inflicts on an enemy unit, would seem to support this. Statwise... not so much. At Strength and Toughness 5 and with 3 Wounds, he might seem survivable, but with only light armor for protection and a Weapon Skill of only 4, backed by three Initiative 3 attacks, it really isn't worth it. Especially not when he costs 360 points, takes up a Lord slot, and can potentially be your Hierophant.

If you feel you really need the magical offense, he's not a bad choice in a higher value game, but making him your Hierophant is a pretty bad move, since he can't use any of the Lore of Nehekhara spells that a Hierophant is supposed to use.

As Mortarch of Sacrament

So, how does Arkhan change in the Undead Legion? He costs 650 points, is a Monster (Special Character), and has gained +1 Toughness, +5 Wounds and +4 Attacks. His Tomb Blade now only restores his own health and he's traded the Liber Mortis and Staff of Nagash for the Staff of Spirits, which operates much the same as his old staff (can sacrifice two Power Dice in one magic phase and then apply them to a spell in the next magic phase). He can Fly, is a Large Target, causes Terror, is Undead, rolls a D6 at the end of any Close Combat phase in which he's caused a Wound and recovers a lost Wound of his own if he rolls a 6, he reduces the wounds he suffers due to Unstable by -1 (in addition to any other modifiers), can march as normal, and doubles the points worth of models he summons when casting spells from the Lore of Undeath, including the additional points generated by Raise the Dead counters. He's a level 4 caster who can generate any combination of spells he wishes (that is, four from one, or two from each, or three from one and a fourth from the other) from both the Lore of Death and the Lore of Undeath. If this make him sound like a mini-Nagash, that's because he pretty much is - While Nagash is awesome and can do awesome things, he's 1000 pt, so Arkhan is like a budget version of him, with lesser, altough still powerful versions of his abilities. Take him if you don't want Nagash to fill up half your army and when you want room for other dudes and dudettes.